The Grenada gazette., 1887-01-01
ARKANSAS PANTHERS.
bw They Are Hunted in the
Dense Swamps.
Dangers to Dogs and Men-An Old
Hunter Escapes Death From .
Mother Panther by Kill
ing Her Cub.


1.-THE panther hunt is one of the
brts indulged in by the hunters who
in the region of the dense swamps
Southwestern Arkansas" said Tai
Riale, resident of Little Rock,
lat ferocious animal still being
nndant IN these almost inaccessible
ges. Dogs of fine breed, and
ecially trained for the dangerous
rk, are used in packs on these hunts,
| the hunters follow the trail
united nn the small but powerful
liam ponies that are common on the
thwestern borders. The timber
ere the panther makes its home is so
ekly grown that Il novice would find
most difficult matter to make his
n among the trees on foot, but added
the density of the woods, rank
Pwths Of creepers form a network
m tree to tree, which would seem to
Psent an impossible barrier to
living thing. Yet the mounted
hther hunters follow their
ks through this thicket with
parent ease. The hunter car
rifle, n stout rope or rawhide
b. y small axe, and a long, keen
ded hunting knife. With the latter
sped in his right hand, the horse
n cuts his way with sweeping
Fhes of the blade through the low
hsing creepers. making an opening
quickly and surely that the horse is
ely delayed in his course. The dogs
de the hunter by their loud baying
soon as u panther's trail is scented,
so well are these dogs trained that
crossing Of a bear or Il deer on the
panther's track, which is a frequent
urrcncc, never leads the dog away
m the game he has been sent to fol-
A panther soon trees after it finds
the dogs are on its trail, and al
p selects some large tree as q ref
When the dogs reach the tree
IT bayings change to peculiar
X, which announces to the hunter
the game is brought to bay. Usu-
a rifle ball dislodges the panther,
he leaps or falls to the ground,
pre- the dogs at once attack him.
less the animal is so badly wounded
to render it helpless, the fight be-
en it and the dogs rarely ends with
one of the latter being torn to
Ces' and this fierce fight to the death
he exciting part Of the hunt. Some
cs' however, u panther hunt is at
fled by circumstances that give
&c OF danger to the sportsman that
kes the fight with the dogs at the
OF the tree child's play in compar-
Bruce Weston, an old-timc Arkan-
hunter, followed his dogs once on a
Tiers trail, and came up with them
re they had freed the game in big
Tree. The foliage was so thick and
shadows so deep in the timber that
as some time before Weston dis
ered the panther. 1t lay between
branches forty feet from the ground.
clung so closely to the boughs that
. but the practiced eye Of the hunt
would have detected its presence,
'on at once recognized in the
achlng figure a panther's cub, and
on the point Of sending a rifle ball
pagh Its body when he remembered
,ner OF 'wenty dollars that some one
ne settlement had made for a live
'ner' and he resolved to capture
one and secure the twenty dollars.
lng his lasso from his pony's saddle,
with his long knife in his belt for
~ an emergency, he climbed the
lie reached the lower branches
le tree, and swinging himself from
ga to bough, stood Just below the
which had raised to Its feet and
p with arched back looking down
sao hunter. Weston removed his
. lrom his shoulder, and was about
oss II easily over the young psnther's
" when. as he raised his eyes, he
erouching In the dead branches Of
70 which grew near the oak-so near